Last Holiday
by The Geeky Saxophonist
Summary: "Maybe being dead won't be so bad if I've got a friend, the deadman thought." The story of two unlikely undead friends: Juji Kabane and Rocketbilly Redcadillac. Set pre-Overdose but contains spoilers! Rated T for some violence and bad language.
1. Borderline Case

**Author's Notes! **Hello everyone! Since it was never really touched upon in the game, I decided to write a little story on how Juji could've met Billy and about how Billy became a ghost. They're such interesting characters, though I wish they'd had more backstory in the game. But that's what fan fiction is for, isn't it? ;)

Thanks to the very awesome TwilightStar7 for proofreading and giving me ideas when I got stuck! :D

If you were wondering about the title and chapter names, I was listening to a lot of music by the pillows when I wrote this. The titles mysteriously became names of their songs… O.O

I hope you enjoy this story!

* * *

LAST HOLIDAY

_A Gungrave: Overdose Fan Fiction_

**CHAPTER I** – _Borderline Case_

It was night. Or was it daytime, or sunset, or twilight time? Juji didn't know at this point. Without eyesight, he had no clue at times. All he knew is the SEED he unwillingly shared his body with had once again tried to take control. It was just out of nowhere. That was happening more and more lately, it seemed.

He blindly scuffed down an alleyway, concentrating solely on his breathing as he tried to regain control. That feeling was scary as hell, when the SEED overpowered him like that. Someday, he wondered, would he be unable to stop it? Would he go on a terrible rampage as a deformed SEED-monster and kill anything in his way?

_Shit, don't think about that,_ Juji told himself.

As he focused on rhythmically forcing air in and out of his lungs, he was completely unaware to his surroundings. Perhaps it would've been better if he'd stopped for a moment to do this, since Juji suddenly tripped and fell face-first.

"Goddammit!" the blind deadman snarled around his mouthful of pavement. He angrily scrounged around for what had the nerve to trip him like that.

Much to his surprise, his hands met what seemed to be an electric guitar.

Juji made the decision not to smash it, like he'd been planning to do with whatever had tripped him. He was so perplexed that he'd changed his mind. Who the hell left a guitar in an alleyway, anyways? The question was mind-boggling.

Juji carefully lifted it up and tried to hold it like he remembered how the rock stars on TV did it. The guitar felt awkward in his hands. He decided it was because he'd never actually held a guitar before, but he then noticed a long, rod-like structure beneath the neck. _No wonder it feels weird,_ Juji thought,_ this guitar _is_ freakin' weird as it is._

Out of the blue, a strange, almost ludicrous idea occurred to Juji.

_Maybe I can learn to play this,_ he thought. _Get my mind off of SEED and shit._

Awkwardly, the blind deadman managed to balance the instrument on his knee and attempted to play it. The resulting sound was horrible. So horrible, in fact, that Juji himself cringed and nearly dropped the guitar. He even heard the sound of a panicked cat's claws scraping against the pavement as it ran away.

"Shit! This is too damn hard!" Juji growled. How did guitarists _do_ this, anyways? Angrily bewildered, he pounded against the strings some more in an attempt to make music. More terrible, vaguely musical sounding noise filled the alleyway. The frustrated yet determined Juji continued his futile attempts to play a rock ballad when suddenly a gunshot cracked and a bullet whizzed past his ear.

Juji whirled around. "Am I really playing that badly?" he bellowed.

"Hell yeah!" a sneering voice returned.

Juji inhaled quickly to see who his critics were. The awful scent of thugs filled his nose. Even worse, they carried hints of SEED—they must be dealers, not users, he concluded quickly. Better dealers than users. Dealers didn't morph into awful monsters like the users did.

"Hey. Wannabe musician. Hand over dat guitar and we won't shoot ya through da head," one of the thugs said. Juji could hear them getting closer and surrounding him. He wrinkled his nose. They smelled awful.

"Hell no. I found it, it's mine now," Juji retorted.

"Ya must be deaf from yer awful playing," the head thug jeered. "I don't think ya heard what I said. Hand over dat guitar."

Juji scowled and wrapped his right hand around his gunblade's hilt. "Haven't you ever heard of finders keepers, losers weepers?" he said, possessively tightening his grip on the guitar's neck. "I found this, so it's mine. You lost it, so you're a loser. It's that simple," Juji explained like the thug was stupid (which he probably was, anyway).

There was shocked silence from the thugs. Their leader huffed disgustedly and leaned uncomfortably close to Juji's face.

"What did ya say to me?" he growled.

"You're a loser," Juji repeated, slowly and deliberately. "Now get out of my face, you smell like shit."

"Yer gonna regret saying dat to me, ya sonuvabitch!" the thug exploded. The blind deadman heard him pulling out a gun.

Before the thug could fire, though, Juji stuck him through with the gunblade Tsumuji. The thug coughed, sputtered up some blood, and cursed before collapsing to the ground.

"Oh _shit,_ he just killed the boss!" one of the others exclaimed in disbelief.

Gunshots were suddenly angrily ricocheting off of the brick walls all around Juji. The deadman felt the fiery pain of SEED suddenly coursing throughout his veins and a burning sensation on his right shoulder and back as uncontrollable anger took hold of him.

"Oh, damn, goddamn! He's a user!" a thug barked in shock.

Juji's teeth forcefully clashed together in a rage when he heard those words. Before he knew it, the deadman was bringing his gunblade down upon the man.

"Do you think I _wanted_ to be injected full of SEED against my will? Huh?" Juji screamed as he hacked at the thug. "I'm not a user and I never would be! They're all freakin' damned bastards who should all burn in hell!" The unfortunate dealer was dead at this point, but Juji had lost control. "This wasn't my choice! Never compare them to me!"

The other thugs shrank back as Juji took out his terrible wrath upon their comrade. They regained composure quickly, though—as dealers, they were quite used to seeing those under the influence of SEED going berserk. They opened fire on the attacker.

However, they'd never faced someone quite like Juji. The deadman turned about quicker than expected and emptied Tsumuji's gun. Being blind, his aim was less than decent, but some of the haphazardly fired bullets hit home. With a feral battlecry, Juji flung himself at the SEED-dealing thugs with his blade poised for killing.

* * *

Exhausted and splattered with blood, Juji slumped against a wall. He'd ran from the alleyway where he'd found the guitar and fought the SEED dealers, mainly because it smelled terrible with their blood all over. There was a lot of it on his coat, too. _I've got to find somewhere to wash it,_ Juji thought absently.

The SEED in him had almost taken control again, but Juji had no intention of letting that damn drug turn him into a complete monster. The deadman clenched his teeth. Not ever. Never. Damn, Garino was going to _pay_ for experimenting on him!

The flame finally had died down on his shoulder and back. The last of the SEED-induced pain was pretty much gone by this point. However, several of the thugs had managed to shoot him. The bullets had gone right through, but the resulting pain was almost as terrible as anything SEED ever did to him. It was wrong. The dead weren't supposed to feel any pain.

The guitar was still in his hand. Juji still wasn't quite sure why he'd even kept it. Probably because it'd pissed of the lead thug so much. As the angry haze in his mind slowly dispersed, Juji realized something: that guitar must be pretty damned important to warrant that sort of reaction from lowlife SEED dealers.

"I'll deal with you in the morning, ya damn troublemaker," he grumbled to the instrument.

_Oh great, I'm talking to inanimate objects now,_ the deadman thought drowsily as he searched for somewhere to rest. He found himself a secluded corner to lie down in. _I'm _definitely_ losing it._

With that unenthusiastic thought, Juji fell into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

"'scuse me, sir…"

The first Juji heard upon waking up was an unfamiliar voice. In fact, that voice had woken him from the first decent sleep he'd gotten in a while.

"What the hell do you want," he replied groggily, remaining unmoving on the ground. "I was having a nice sleep there!"

"Sorry to wake ya like that, sir, but that's my guitar you've got there," the voice said. He—Juji assumed it to be a male—had a slight southern twang to it.

"So?"

"May I have it back, please?" he asked politely. "I'd really appreciate it."

The deadman readjusted himself into a sitting position, but didn't loosen his grip on the guitar. Something seemed… off. Usually, Juji was able to sense if someone was standing right in front of him. That, and he'd be able to smell them. But there was no scent besides the crappy alleyway and the SEED dealer blood dried on his coat, and there was definitely no other living, human being in that alleyway.

"Whoever you are, you're not alive, are you," Juji said, tilting his head skeptically.

The voice grew silent for a moment.

"Well, looks like it's not as easy to fool the blind as they say it is," the disembodied voice finally responded. "Yer right, I ain't alive."

_Goddamn, don't tell me the freakin' guitar is talking to me now!_ Juji groaned inwardly. He wasn't ready to go bat-shit crazy!

"Then who the hell are you?" the blind deadman demanded.

"My name's Rocketbilly Redcadillac," the voice introduced himself as. "I'm a ghost now, and my spirit's tied to that there guitar you've got."

"What the hell kind of name is that?" Juji exclaimed. For some reason, he was more shocked by the bizarre name than the fact that the guitar was housing a spirit.

"Why, it's mine!" Rocketbilly replied, sounding slightly insulted.

"It's weird," Juji said.

"Well, that kinda name do you go by?"

"Juji Kabane."

"Hell, that's a weird name too."

The deadman snorted. "Not half as weird as yours."

The ghost laughed, sounding amused. "Yer something." He paused for a moment. "You ain't alive either."

"No," Juji confirmed.

"Thought so. You've got a tortured spirit in that body, I can sense it."

"I'm a deadman."

"Ah." Rocketbilly went quiet for a moment. Juji assumed he was nodding in affirmation. "Hey, d'you mind giving me my guitar back?"

"Uh… okay. Don't go running off," Juji warned, letting go of the instrument. He felt it float right out of his hands—it was definitely haunted.

"Thanks, man," Rocketbilly replied cheerfully. "I ain't gonna run off. You seem pretty lonely."

"Me? Lonely? Tch," Juji scoffed. But as much as he hated to admit it, the deadman was pretty damned lonely.

"I've never met another dead guy like me before," the ghost said happily. "Pretty exciting, huh?"

_This guy is too damn cheery_, Juji thought. "Sure it is. Hey. Tell me, uh… Rocke-aw, damn," The deadman stumbled over the name. "…RB—"

"If my name's too much, you can just call me Billy," the ghost offered.

"RB, Billy, whatever. Why did those shitty thugs want your guitar yesterday?"

"Aw, those guys," Billy sighed. "They're SEED dealers, you probably already knew that. Well, a deal was going down in that old warehouse right next near that alleyway. I interfered and destroyed their entire supply of drugs and the customers' money, too. They were pret-ty pissed off at me." The ghost paused to chuckle. "It ain't the first time I've stopped their deals. They knew me pretty well and had been tryin' to capture me for weeks now.

"Anyways, I was goin' down that alleyway when suddenly somethin' ran right into me and knocked me down. And then that somethin' picked me up and started tryin' to play a tune!" Billy started laughing hysterically like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

Juji tensed, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Was I really that bad!"

Billy didn't respond to that question, instead, he continued his narrative. "So those SEED-dealing thugs heard my guitar, so they found me. I woulda helped out with 'em but it seemed you had things under control. Yer some fighter, Juji. I can safely say I've never seen anythin' like that before." The ghost was quiet for a minute. "You really hate SEED, don't ya," he asked quietly.

A sudden flare of anger pierced Juji. The blind deadman ground his teeth and nodded sharply. "Like hell, I do. More than anything."

"Looks like we've got somethin' in common."

"Do we, now," Juji replied, trying to sound uninterested.

"Well, yeah! I'm dead, yer dead. I hate SEED, you hate SEED. I like screwin' with the dealers, you like screwin' with the dealers," Billy explained while ticking off each point on his fingers. "I barely know ya, Juji, but I have the feelin' we'd make one _hell_ of a team."

Juji was taken aback. "Are you serious?"

"Sure am!" the Billy said enthusiastically. "With our power combined, I bet we'd be able to kick _so_ much SEED-dealer ass. So, whaddya say?" There was an eager silence from the ghost. Somehow, Juji just knew the guitar-haunting spirit was grinning hugely.

And the deadman just couldn't find in him to say no. Maybe it was the loneliness, or the fact that he could use someone with a working pair of eyes. Yet somehow, he still surprised himself with his answer.

"Hm. Sounds good," Juji said while at the same time thinking _Oh shit, what the hell am I getting in to?_ He honestly didn't know what had possessed him to say yes.

"Alright! Awesome!" Billy exclaimed happily. "Pleased to be workin' with you, Mr. Kabane!"

"Ah, shit, you're weird," Juji groaned.

"You'll learn to love it, I promise," the ghost snickered.

The deadman sighed heavily. He definitely had picked up the strangest companion possible. "Hey, think you can help me find a stream or something? My coat is freakin' covered in dealer-blood. It smells damned awful."

"Sure thing!" the ghost replied. "Hey, if it ain't too much a trouble for ya, can you carry my Blue Lightning?"

"Your _what?_"

"That's my guitar's name, silly. It'll look a bit odd to see a guitar floatin' around next to you, dontcha think?"

_Did he just say "see"?_ Juji angrily thought. "Whatever," he replied and slung the instrument over his shoulder. He really didn't care about appearances, but he didn't want to look weirder than he imagined himself to be. "Let's go. This smell's driving me _crazy,_ I can barely think. Bet that's why I agreed to team up with you."

"Some temper you've got there," Billy remarked.

"Shut up."

"Sorry, man."

"You'd better be."

Juji trudged along with his newfound acquisition of both a guitar and a ghost, who he quickly found out was very talkative. The constant chatter about whatever the hell was on his mind wasn't helping with his nasty mood, which was a result of the smelly shitty SEED dealer blood all over his coat. _Damn, what was I thinking? Saying yes to team up with this random ghost I just met? What the hell's wrong with me?_ the deadman thought, exasperated. Maybe he was already going bat-shit crazy after all…

Soon, Billy was running out of random crap to talk about. At first, Juji was glad when the voice stopped. Then it became an awkward silence.

"So, uh… what's yer favorite color?" Billy asked, trying to start a conversation with the deadman.

"….I'm _blind_. I can't _see_ color," Juji snapped.

"Oh yeah… sorry…" the ghost apologized awkwardly. "So, uh, what's your favorite animal?

"God_damn_, RB. Are we there yet?"

"Almost, almost. Hey, look, I can see it now!"

Juji's shoulders stiffened. He'd never noticed before how much it bothered him to hear someone talking about being able to see!

"Oh, shit. Sorry," Billy cursed and apologized again. "I'll shut up now."

"Good. About ti—"

"Aw, wait!"

"Hey, you said you'd sh—"

_Splash!_

"Uh… we're here."

The angry and now soaking wet Juji scowled. "Thank you, Captain Obvious," he snarled as he clawed himself ashore. Fuming, he tugged off his sodden coat. _At least he actually _got_ me to the stream,_ Juji thought as he viciously scrubbed the blood-stained garment.

"Oh… oh God, Juji, I'm so sorry! I just hadn't talked to anyone in so long and I just wanted to chat a little and I didn't mean to overboard like that and make ya faceplant into the stream like that!" Billy apologized frantically. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"

Juji felt the corners of his mouth starting to curl into a smile. The apology from the ghost was just so sincere that it became freakin' hilarious. Billy continued to emphasize how sorry he was for another thirty seconds straight before Juji burst out in hysterical laughter.

"What's so funny?" the ghost asked in the tone of voice someone would use when pouting.

"You, RB! You…" Juji broke off into more hysteric laughter. If he'd still had eyes, there would've been tears streaming down his face. "Oh god, you're too much." _Damn, I haven't laughed like this in a long time,_ the deadman realized.

"Ya think so?" Billy asked. He actually sounded genuinely surprised.

Juji snorted, trying to hold back another bout of laughter. _Maybe being dead won't be so bad if I've got a friend,_ the deadman thought. Then he froze._ Hell, I'm already thinking of him as a friend? Am I crazy?_

He contemplated that for a moment.

_Yeah, I guess I am._


	2. Come on, ghost

**Author's Notes!** Hi everyone! Sorry for the super long break between updates. I've had an awful case of writer's block with this story but I've finally completed this chapter. I hope you enjoy the story!**  
**

**CHAPTER II **– _Come on, ghost_

"So… are you sure about the deal?" Juji stretched and smoothed out his coat as he stood up. His new teammate of a day had gone off earlier when they'd overheard a passerby talking about SEED. Billy's ghostly abilities made it easier for him to discreetly follow and learn the details, leaving Juji to sit around and wait.

"Yep, heard 'em myself. Just down the street at that crummy little nightclub place," Billy explained, "Buyer said he'd be back in an hour or so."

"An hour, huh. More than enough time to stop them from dealing in the first place," Juji said eagerly, fingers itching to grip the hilts of his gunblades.

"Don't tell me yer just gonna run straight in there and kill everyone?"

"Hell, that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

Billy huffed. "Juj, that's no way to do it!" he said, shaking his head.

"You have a better idea?" the deadman snapped.

"Well. I wouldn't call it better, but it's probably more efficient. Ya see, if we wait the hour for the buyers to show up too, we can get both the dealers and the druggies at the same time," Billy explained.

"Hmph," Juji said noncommittally. There was sense in Billy's plan, but he wasn't about to admit that the ghost's idea was better than his.

"Hey, just give it a shot, 'kay?" his new teammate said gently.

Juji sniffed, smelling the warm city air and judging the time to be early evening. "Okay. It'll be darker then too, won't it? Then we won't be seen as easily. The sun's already going down…"

"That's the way ta think!" Billy said happily. "And yep, the sun's almost all the way set. How'd ya know that, seeing as—oh, damn, sorry…"

The deadman snorted. "Enough with that, RB. Geez." But Juji failed to answer the question, when he realized that never since he'd awoken as a deadman had he known what time of day it was.

The hour's wait was awful for Juji. He just wanted to destroy the frickin' SEED and get the hell out of there. Sure, Billy's plan was more efficient and at first he'd accepted the reasoning, but that had only lasted five minutes. Juji preferred just to rush in and get it done ASAP. He was never good at waiting.

"See 'em yet?" Juji asked.

"Juj, that's the fifteenth time you've asked! I'll tell you when they get here, 'kay?" Billy was beginning to sound a frustrated, but only a little. It was pretty tough to get on his nerves, Juji noted. _Damn, guess I can't drive him crazy for fun if I get bored…_

"Aw, man! Wait a minute!" the ghost suddenly exclaimed.

"Are they here?" Juji grinned excitedly and grabbed the hilts of Tsumuji and Hayate.

Instead of answering, the ghost whistled. "That is one _pret-ty_ lady!"

Juji's jaw dropped. "Wha—god_damn_!" he shouted. "This is no time to be looking at women!"

"Sorry," Billy chuckled. "She _was_ really pretty, though…"

Juji scowled. "Shit, RB!" he snapped. "Next time this happens, I swear…"

Billy braced himself for a loud rebuke from the deadman.

"…you'd better describe to me what the hell she looks like!"

The ghost snickered. He hadn't been expecting that answer at all. "Okay, I will," he agreed with a laugh.

Juji grinned for a moment before turning his focus back to the task at hand. "Alright, are the bastards there _yet_? I'm sick of waiting."

"Cool yer jets, Juj!" Billy said in an attempt to calm the wrathful deadman. "I'll tell ya when they're here, I told ya already, silly."

"Hrmf." Waiting really sucked, Juji decided. He'd never had much patience in the first place. SEED didn't really help his attention span much, either. The deadman grit his teeth and silently sent out a plea to the druggies, wherever they were.

_Dammit, show up already so I can slice you to pieces!_

"Oh, there they are."

Juji's entire body stiffened at Billy's words. The ghost's voice had taken on a whole new tone: soft, serious, and urgent.

The deadman felt anger surging inside of him. "Is the deal happening yet? Can we go in?" he inquired, struggling to keep his voice low.

"Wait just a tic… they're goin' in now—holy _shit_, what's up with your shoulder?"

Shoulder? What the hell did he mean, shoulder? "What the hell are you talking about?" Juji hissed.

"Uh, don't panic now, but yer shoulder's on fire," Billy said in an audibly shocked voice.

The deadman barked a quick laugh. "That's the SEED at work. Makes me want to hack the shit out of stuff," Juji explained hurriedly. He felt the flame burning and his anger continuously rising. "Can we just go in already? I'm gonna lose control any minute now!"

"After you, my friend," the ghost simply said.

_Hell yes!_ In a flash, Juji's gunblades were drawn and the nightclub's door was blown from its hinges by a shower of bullets. The deadman charged in with only the scent of SEED guiding his way and slicing down anything—or person—that happened to make the mistake of blocking his path.

A sudden crackle of electricity accompanied by a guitar riff momentarily stopped Juji on his mad rampage.

"Hell, I know I sound awesome but don't stop on my account, Juj!" Billy called out over the frantic guitar tune, "Jes' stop that deal!"

Juji jerked his head in a quick nod before dashing off after his target. The narrow hallway echoed with the sounds of riffs and screams. _Well, that's gonna be hard to get used to,_ Juji thought. _Aw hell, wait? Who says I'm gonna stick with this guy for a long time? I like being on my own._

The deadman's thoughts were brought to a stop when the powerful stench of SEED overwhelmed him. There was no doubt about it, the deal was definitely in the room right before him. With a mighty kick, he smashed the door from the frame.

"What the—who are you?" shouted the dealer before being blown away.

Juji heard the shocked screams from the others in the room and the dealer's body hitting the floor.

"Damn you! You're not getting away with this!" a voice snarled.

"Hey, what are you doing?" another voice stammered.

"Shut up!" the first voice snarled back.

"Holy _shit_," came yet another voice, this time from behind Juji. "He just injected himself with unrefined SEED, man!"

"Dammit! Don't sneak up on me like that RB! Ya scared the hell outta me," Juji snapped. But then he heard the unmistakable sound of a body being twisted and torn as the drug morphed it into a monster. The stink of SEED rent the air.

"Sorry 'bout that," Billy apologized. "I'm done dealin' with the thugs in the front—"

"No shit Sherlock, just shut up and help me kill this guy!" Juji barked and threw himself at the monster. He grinned as he felt his blade pierce flesh. He twisted it and sliced sideways with a spray of blood. He felt some splatter onto his face.

The monster snarled and Juji felt the whoosh of air as it slashed downwards with giant, mutated hands. Quickly he darted to the side and twisted around to stick the monster's arm with his gunblade. The deadman grunted as he forced it through the thick, sinewy arm of the monster and grinned with satisfaction when he heard the _thunk_ as it hit the floor. He brought his blade back to deliver another blow.

"Hey, look out, Juj!" Billy suddenly exclaimed. Before Juji could react, he heard a guitar riff and a scream directly behind him. "That dealin' scum was 'bout to shoot ya in the back! Don't worry, he's dead now."

"Thanks," Juji replied hurriedly, returning his attention to the SEED monster. He slammed both blades into the monster's side and ripped with all his might. Blood was pouring all over him at this point, but Juji didn't even care. All he cared about was if the bastard suffered and died.

He hacked and chopped with all of his might as the monster weakened and struggled to stay on its feet. Finally it collapsed with a mighty _crash_. Juji raised his gunblade for the final blow.

There was a sickening _slash _as the monster's head was severed from its body. There was no sound besides the soft gurgling noise of blood gushing from its neck.

"Serves you right, damn druggie," Juji growled. He kicked the mangled corpse for good measure. He was breathing heavily now, the berserker aura gone and rage subsiding.

"Holy _shit_, man. That was incredible!" Billy praised. "I haven't seen anything quite like that. Frickin' awesome!"

"Hell, you aren't too bad yourself," Juji admitted. It hadn't taken Billy long to kill the dealer's goons in the front at all. Without his help, it would've taken the deadman a lot more time and energy to get the job done. Maybe it was a good idea to keep the ghost around after all, if just for these kinds of situations.

"We make one awesome team if I don't say so myself!" Billy proclaimed excitedly. "Look out, SEED dealers, Billy n' Juji are comin' for ya!" The ghost sounded so happy that Juji couldn't help but smile a little. This guy could actually brighten his tortured spirit, even if just a little.

"We'd better get out of here before the cops show up, RB," Juji said.

"Sure thing!" Billy grinned. "And I think yer coat needs another bath."

"Then bring me to that stream from yesterday. Don't you dare let me fall in again or I'm gonna slice you," Juji rebuked.

The ghost chuckled. "Of course I won't. Well, maybe I will, since you need a bath yerself."

"Shut up," the deadman snapped. "Let's go."

"Right!" Billy responded cheerily as the two of them left behind the carnage they'd caused.


	3. Black Sheep

**CHAPTER III –** _Black Sheep_

They traveled together for a while after that. Juji still wasn't quite sure how they'd hit it off so well, but he and Billy had become fast friends. And even though Billy's sometimes eccentric behavior annoyed him at times, Juji had to admit he enjoyed the ghost's upbeat presence. The SEED inside him became easier to manage. The few times when he lost control, Billy had stood by with encouraging words as he brought himself back.

Together they'd kicked quite a lot of dealer-ass and obliterated a shitload of SEED. Every week or so, a deal or two would pop up and they'd pop in. On their downtime, Billy would describe the women who passed to Juji or (unsuccessfully) try to teach him a bit of guitar.

And if he concentrated enough, Juji could sometimes feel the ghost touch him—usually it was a soft touching steering him out of the way of something he'd hit his head on otherwise. Sometimes it was a teasing shove when they jokingly fought over women or gentle guidance on his hands when Billy tried to teach him a chord.

It was a pretty good life for two dead guys. The perfect balance between ass-kicking and leisure, Juji decided. For the first time since becoming a deadman, he was truly happy.

One lazy summer night, Juji was comfortably sprawled out under a bridge which ran over a small river that cut through the city. He and Billy had interfered with a SEED deal earlier and his coat had gotten all nasty and bloody from the conflict—again. The patched-up coat was spread out to dry on the still-warm pavement.

"Hey RB."

"Yeah?" The reply came from somewhere above him. Juji assumed the ghost was perching on the bridge's low-set supports. He'd banged his head on them on the way under, and then screamed at Billy for being a bad seeing-eye dog. Billy had laughed hysterically before apologizing.

"How'd you end up dead?"

Billy began to say something, but stopped. He went silent for a while.

"Fine, I'll tell my story first, then." Juji sighed and turned over on to his back. The warm pavement felt nice on his constantly-aching body. "I forgot how long ago it was now. Maybe five or six years ago. One day I was just working like any other and I had an accident. I can't remember how it happened anymore, but I do know that I died that day.

"At least, I thought I was dead. Everything was gone for a while and I felt like I was floating in nothingness. It was the strangest goddamned sensation.

"Then, I woke up. Somehow I wasn't dead anymore. I was floating in some weird cylinder full of…something. Turns out this sonuvabitch bastard had taken my body to use for his twisted experiments. Garino Corsione, ever heard of him?"

"Can't say that I have," Billy replied softly.

"Well, that Garino bastard thought'd be fun to cut me open and see how I ticked. While I was conscious, at that. He frickin' strapped me to some table in this awful lab where I all I saw was his ugly face and the surgical instruments all covered with my blood. Hell, that was probably the last thing I saw before that shithead shot me up with some goddamned experimental SEED. The drug ruined my face. That's why I wear this mask," Juji growled, fumbling with and removing the worn leather mask to show Billy his mutilated features. The ghost didn't say anything, but uttered a small, sympathetic noise.

"Anyway, it killed me. So there I was, having died twice. Apparently that _still_ wasn't enough for me since next thing I knew, I was suddenly alive again, this time in a dump full of Garino's failed experiments and my eyesight failing. It was frickin' disgusting. I couldn't see where the hell I was going as I stumbled through the remains of the other poor bastards. There was heaps of mangled flesh and organs and the stench of blood was everywhere. Disgusting. Damned disgusting. Wished I could've joined them. They'd been lucky enough to die.

"But I wasn't. I managed to survive by keeping the SEED under control with this technique I'd learned when I was younger, Kutaba Ryu. I don't think I did anything but meditate like hell for the first week or so, alone in that shitheap." Juji trailed off. "Yeah…"

"Oh, damn, that's awful," Billy said quietly. "I'm so sorry, Juj."

The deadman shrugged and stretched lazily. "Don't feel sorry for me. As long as we keep destroying SEED and shit and I get to kick Garino's ass someday, I'll be fine." He pushed his unkempt hair back and put the mask back on. "So, how'd you die?"

Billy sighed, sounding troubled. "Promise me you won't hate me."

"Sure."

"You see, when I was born, my own ma didn't want me. She was only a teenager at the time. She left as soon as she could and left me with my grandmother. Thankfully my gramma was the sweetest woman you could ever know. She raised me like she'd given birth to me. Hell, she was the only one in my family who actually cared about me, bein' an illegitimate child and all. But we never heard anythin' from my real ma once she was gone. Nothin' at all. We didn't really care, though. We didn't need her. Life was okay for a while.

"But as she got older, my gramma began to get sick. We didn't have enough money to pay for the meds and care she needed. I was in high school then, just finishin' up and ready to graduate. This kid I knew offered me a job—position in this band and the pay was surprisingly good. It was like a dream come true for me. I could play my guitar and help my gramma, and everything would be good, right?

"Turns out they were more than just a band. The lead singer had… connections. Backstage at our gigs, we'd sell it." Billy went silent. "SEED."

Juji sat up quickly, suddenly tense and angry beyond belief. "Hell, you were a SEED dealer?"

"Hear me out, Juji!" the ghost exclaimed. The only reason stopping the deadman from reacting further was the fact that he'd never heard Billy use that tone of voice. It was so serious and… sad. "I wanted out right as soon as I found out the truth, but the pay was as good as promised. I just _had _to help my gramma. Without her, I'd have no family, nowhere to live, nothin'! Oh god, it was awful." Billy sounded genuinely upset.

"So I kept at it. Played my guitar, dealed SEED, and paid for my gramma's treatment. It was horrible, and I damned well knew it, but I put up a façade. Pretended I didn't care about all the horrible things I was doin' for my own selfish reasons. This went on for some four or five years.

"Things got worse as we got more experienced. The leader's reputation grew better and we were 'upgraded.' That's when I got my Blue Lightning. Hell, we were bein' hired to kill now. It was damned awful. But I still had to help my gramma. She'd done so much for me! I couldn't drop the job now! I was in too deep.

"One night, we were hired to kill this small-time gang boss who'd conned a ton of cash from our leader's boss. We didn't realize that this guy had used all of the conned cash to hire another group of assassins to kill us all. He said we were a pain in everyone's asses and we'd be better off dead.

"Long story short, I was killed. I was shot fulla lead and left to bleed to death. It was terrible, yet I knew I deserved it. But my spirit was too tortured to carry on to the afterlife. I had to stay—no, _wanted_ to stay and make up for all of those horrible things I did until my spirit's container was destroyed. And that's just what I'm gonna do, Juji. My spirit ain't gonna rest 'till I can atone for what I did."

Juji didn't say anything. He sat there, absorbing Billy's story and trying as hard as he could not to violently berate the ghost.

"Juji. I'm a horrible person," Billy mumbled in a choked voice. "I… I understan' if ya hate me now. Shouldn'ta made ya promise that, huh. I'll leave if ya want."

Juji sighed in frustration. "Shit, RB. Don't start acting like a whiny emo kid. I don't freakin' hate you," he admitted.

"….you don't?" Billy sounded surprised.

Juji _was_ pretty damn mad that his only friend turned out to be a former SEED dealer, but he just couldn't find it in him to hate the guy. In fact, Juji almost felt a little sorry for him. _That_ really surprised him.

"I _do_ want to kick your scrawny little ass so hard right now, but sadly, I can't," he said, "and part of me does want to hate you. It _should. _It just won't, though. Goddamn."

"Thanks." Billy went quiet. He sat there for a while, staring at the reflections on the water below, fittingly in self-reflection. "Y'know… I've never told anyone 'bout that before. Never stuck around with anyone long enough."

"Why haven't you left me yet, then?"

"Like I said when we met, yer the first guy I've ever met who's also dead. People who're alive… I dunno. They're afraid when things that ain't supposed to be there are there, y'know? They treat ya like a freakshow. You, Juj, you can see past that—"

"_Excuse_ me?" The deadman managed a small smirk.

Billy realized what he'd said and laughed softly, embarrassed. "Sorry. What I meant really was you didn't seem to care when I said I was dead. You just told me my name was really freakin' weird."

"Well, it _is._"

They both laughed, uneasy at first but soon it grew into true laughter.

"I think I'll be able to forgive you for being a dealer, RB," Juji finally said, glancing up where he thought the ghost to be. "As long as you don't start dealing that shit again, we're cool."

"It ain't gonna happen, promise. Thanks, Juj."

"Yep." The deadman laid back down on the comfortably warm ground. Frankly, he was amazed that he hadn't completely lost his cool.

_I guess I this means I've actually found a friend,_ he suddenly realized.

_I won't be alone anymore._


End file.
